Irresponsible citizenship

A week or so ago, I wrote an article about the organisation with the bogus name, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) which is fronted by the spiv Jordan Peterson. To get an idea of the main concerns of this organisation, all you have to do is look at the people on the advisory board1. While they appear to be a disparate group, they do have many things in common. 

All the advisory board are of course conservative; almost all are very wealthy (billionaires or multi-millionaires); most are religious (some are religious nutters*); some are climate change deniers; some are simple bigots. They epitomise the modern joining of forces between the wealthy ultraconservative free market elites, the antiscience crowd, and the religious.

The conservatives can see their electoral appeal fading away, with the depredations perpetrated on people by the likes Trump and his Republican coterie of MAGA fruitcakes2,3, the corrupt, lying Conservative government in the UK4, and the appalling Coalition government in Australia5-12, to name but three. As David Frum said: “If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.” That is what we are seeing now. Conservatives will do anything to try to stem this tide. Their most common tactic is to accuse others of the crimes they, themselves commit13. They will indulge in gerrymanders14, they will attempt to prevent those they don’t like from voting15. 

The wealthy are terrified that the trickle down economic con-job will come to an end and that they will have to pay their fair share of tax16-17.

Climate change deniers are mouthpieces for the fossil fuel industry and their associates. They in turn are terrified that trying to do something to mitigate climate change will affect their profits18-20. They have had to vary their techniques from the original outright denial to more recent greenwashing21.

With the decline in religion all around the world in recent decades22-24, the religious are panic-stricken, as they can see their power and privilege waning. They will do anything to try to prevent this continuing. They have already seen some of their legislated pet bigotries repealed, and others outlawed. So, what have they done to try to arrest this decline? 

In the US, they have thrown their lot in with the Republican Party and with the most amoral man to ever occupy the position of President. The fact that Trump is a malignant narcissist, a pathological liar, a womaniser, a racist, and a bigot, goes against much of what Jesus Christ is reputed to have said. The fact that people who say they are followers of Christ could ignore Trump’s appalling behaviour clearly demonstrates that they are mostly concerned with their power and privilege, and perhaps their tax-free status, more than they are about the welfare of their fellow Americans25.

In Australia, they have largely taken over the Liberal Party26, and that party has embarked on a process of keeping the religious side of their motivation quiet, while trying to scare the bejesus out of your average punter by telling them that we will be at war with China, or boat people will overrun us (they are all rapists and murderers, aren’t they?), or renewable energy will kill more birds than cats do, that offshore wind farms will kill whales, that renewable energy is more expensive than it is, that the Labor government wants to take away your superannuation, that electric vehicles will destroy the weekend, that the Voice to parliament was racist, that Scott Morrison was not in Hawaii, Australia was at the head of the queue with Covid-19 vaccinations, or any other of then plethora of lies27,28. They have also indulged in an enormous amount of corruption; handing public money out to mates’ projects in the hope of getting a proportion of that back in donations to the party29.

What follows are mostly short vignettes of the members of the advisory board of the ARC:

Agu Irukwu is the senior pastor of Jesus House for All Nations1, which seems to be your typical happy-clappy evangelical church which, like most of them, is a business and has branches in most countries.

Alan McCormick is the co-founder of the Legatum Group1, a Dubai-based investment firm and one of the key funders of the United Kingdom’s GB News, for which he happens to be the new chairman (as of April 2022). He is a climate change denier, and on Twitter has posted several articles by climate change deniers. GB News frequently hosts guests who cast doubt on climate science and oppose green policies, including theNet Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG) of Tory MPs. The bizarre Nigel Farage is one of the channel’s main presenters. McCormick, has also praised calls for economic deregulation in the UK by the Tory MP Steve Baker, who also happens to be leading the the NZSG’s backbench revolt against the UK’s 2050 net zero goal30. 

Amanda Stoker is now host of the Sunday with Stoker program on Murdoch’s Sky News Australia and is a former Liberal National Party Senator for Queensland in the Australian parliament1 after having been dumped from the senate at the last federal election31. 

Stoker is a religious nutter*, and has been the source of mirth on this blog previously. In an interview on Sky News Australia while still a senator, she railed against the possibility of children setting up “gay clubs” in Catholic schools32. She also argued against the decriminalisation of abortion in Queensland and is a self-confessed “conservative, Christian, Pro-life” campaigner33. She also predicted dire consequences if voluntary euthanasia is legalised, despite those consequences not having eventuated elsewhere in the world where it has been legalised32. Stoker is one of the climate change deniers of the ‘how much is it going to cost’ ilk, neglecting to factor in what the cost of runaway climate change will be in lives as well as cash34. In short, Stoker is a climate change denying, dominionist bigot35.

Andrew Hastie is a Liberal Party parliamentarian and is a former army Special Air Service officer. He is the current shadow minister for defence. Hastie admits he is a Christian, and his father is a prominent creationist and has written that evolution didn’t happen and the earth was created by his god (of course) about 6000 years ago36. Despite being asked numerous times, Hastie himself has refused each time to deny that he is a creationist and has attacked journalists for asking such questions37. The fact that he refuses to answer makes one suspect that he is also a creationist. This suspicion is strongly reinforced by the fact that Hastie has argued for “faith-based schools be able to opt out of [a] state or territory mandated curriculum that runs contrary to their moral and religious convictions”38.

Arthur C. Brooks is the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School1. In the past four years, Brooks has undergone one of the more unusual professional transformations that Washington has witnessed in recent decades. Between 2008 and 2019, Brooks rose to prominence as the president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the conservative think tank that he helped become a bastion of free-market orthodoxy and right-wing policy wonkery during the Obama years. However, the arrival of Trump on the American political scene put an end to that39. Now he writes self-help books. Brooks was a board member of Donors Capital Fund (DCF) which, in conjunction with its sister organisation DonorsTrust, has earned the title of the ‘Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement’. AEI itself received at least over $22 million through DCF, making DCF the single largest source of its funding. In a 2013 study in the journal Climatic Change, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Find were identified as key funders of the “climate change denial movement”40.

Barry Strauss is a military historian with a focus on Ancient Greece and Rome and their legacy. He is a Professor in Humanistic Studies at Cornell University, Director of Cornell’s Program in Freedom and Free Societies and a Visiting Fellow of the Hoover Institution1. The Hoover Institution is a conservative think tank which promotes libertarianism and small government41. Last decade they were clearly climate change deniers to the extent that they considered we had time to adapt and that the IPCC were “global warming alarmists”42.

Bjorn Lomborg. Much could be written here about Lomborg, who is best known as the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It, two books that downplay the risks of global warming. Lomborg does not have a background in climate science and has published no peer-reviewed articles in journals devoted to climate change research. He has, however, authored policy studies arguing against climate change prevention measures. He wrote a similar article in the peer-reviewed journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change where he claimed, “Climate policies also have costs that often vastly outweigh their climate benefits.” Lomborg’s errors in his discussion of climate change have been documented by many sources including a 2010 book published by Yale University Press entitled The Lomborg Deception: Setting the Record Straight About Global Warming43. There is a Danish website focused on documenting Lomborg’s errors, although it does not appear to have been recently updated. It also maintains a timeline documenting the events leading to Lomborg’s fame, and how he is regarded among his fellow Danes44.

Christopher Chandler is the Chairman and Founding Partner of the Dubai-based Legatum Group (see Alan McCormick, above). Born in New Zealand, he was accused in the New Zealand Parliament of “having links to” Russian intelligence services, but has denied this. The claims were based on 85 pages of files written by Monaco’s security services, including information from France’s DST foreign intelligence agency. Chandler is described as an “object of interest” to the DST because of his alleged Kremlin ties.

Chandler was already rich when he invested in Russia soon after the end of the USSR. When asked if he was the beneficiary of a corrupt system in the 1990s, which created the oligarchs but made most ordinary Russians considerably poorer, he said: “We genuinely believed we could be a force for good [in Russia] by bringing our investment experience” (bullshit alert!). Chandler and his brother Richard ended up with a 4% stake in the energy companyGazprom. He said that as a minority shareholder in Russia, he came up against “well entrenched interests”. It has been reported that the Chandlers backed Vladimir Putin’s attempt to oust Gazprom’s chief executive and to replace him with a St Petersburg ally, Alexey Miller. This was based on the contents of a pamphlet written by Richard Chandler45.The think-tank offshoot of Legatum, the Legatum Institute Foundation, is based in London and is about influencing public policy. It states itself to be dedicated to “creating pathways to prosperity” by providing “authentic new leadership to deliver social and economic wellbeing”. The conspicuously well funded entity, financially supported by Chandler and undisclosed others of similar bent, has achieved an increasing level of influence over Conservative ministers in recent years, and is of growing concern by transparency groups. The institute had backed the Vote Leave campaign and its prominent trade advisor, Shanker Singham, dubbed in some quarters as the Brain of Brexit, advocated a hard Brexit until 2018 when a reprimand was issued by the Charities Commission46.

Colin Brazier is a former journalist and a practising Catholic47. He is currently working towards the establishment of a think-tank dedicated to the study and promotion of ‘procreativity’ – the positive case for pronatalism (i.e. having large families)1.

Dan Crenshaw is a former naval officer and has been a Republican representative for a Congressional District in Texas since 2018. While being a Republican, he is not one of those who maintains the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. However, he did support a lawsuit in Texas that challenged Trumps’ defeat, but is now a fierce critic of those who maintain it was “stolen”48.Crenshaw was a climate change denier back in 2018, has subsequently stated that there was never any disagreement in the political discourse. He has  given the impression that he has always supported ‘climate solutions’, when it is clear that is not so. This is just gaslighting49.

Danny Kruger is the UK Conservative MP for Devizes, having been elected in 2019. He previously served as Political Secretary to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and as chief speechwriter to David Cameron as Leader of the Opposition1, and is an evangelical Christian and is one of the “most Tory Tories” in the House of Commons. He does not believe that women have an absolute right to bodily autonomy (i.e. he is against abortion), and has actually said that “The best time to be alive, if you were healthy and wealthy was the late 18th century”50.

Erica Komisar is a Freudian psychoanalyst who has been in private practice in New York City for over 30 years1. She is an advocate for mothers staying at home during the first three years of a child’s life and believes that biology dictates this51. She also advocates ramming religion down the throats of children, in the belief that it is for their own good52.

Gudrun Kugler is a Member of the Austrian Parliament for the Österreichische Volkspartei (Austrian People’s Party; ÖVP) the conservative christian democratic party. ÖVP has shifted to the right in recent years, with former leader Sebastian Kurz using immigration as a wedge issue o appeal to the far right voters. However, that has pushed the ÖVP’s liberal wing into the arms of the New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS) party53. Kugler is also a Catholic theologian, and in the past has taught at the International Theological Institute in Vienna. Like many religious nutters in Australia and other countries, Kugler has argued that same-sex marriage would lead to a slippery slope and could lead to marriage among siblings.

Baroness Helena Morrissey, is a Conservative Party Member of the House of Lords for and is the current Chair of the Board of Directors at the Fidelis Insurance Group and is a billionaire. As of November 2022, she became a director of the company behind GB News, the conservative media organisation, of which the chairman is Alan McCormick (see above)1. She was, at least initially, a Covid-19 denier and said that it was all faked by the Chinese Communist Party55.

James Orr is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge, UK Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, and Director of UK Programs for Trinity Forum Europe1. The Trinity Forum is an American evangelical Christian organisation. Orr has been getting some attention at the Cambridge Faculty of Divinity recently for his association with Jordan Peterson (see below), Peter Thiel, the American billionaire and Trump donor, and Charles Murray (author of the racist tract ‘The Bell Curve’), and what is perceived as infiltration of the ‘alt-right’ and far right influence56.

John Anderson is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and former leader of the National Party, he says: “from an era of uniquely successful government”1  (you have to laugh at such delusion). He was part of the committee which led to ‘No’ campaign in the recent referendum. His biography (by Paul Gallagher) is entitled ‘Faith and Duty’ and he reputedly has “deep christian conviction”57. In an interview he sheeted home Russia’s problems to “trying to do it without God”: the free fall in population, the crime, the corruption and “an estimated 10 million women of childbearing age who are infertile as a result of botched abortions because three out of five conceptions result in abortion”58. No mention of the fact that Russia wasn’t democratic, and still isn’t. Anderson was, of course, vehemently against same-sex marriage59, and is a climate change denier60.

John Howard is a former Australian Prime Minister and was one politician who used wedge and dog-whistle politics as often as he was able, especially with regard to land rights and refugees. He supported the ability of religious schools to discriminate against those not of their religion61. He was against same-sex marriage and railed against laws to make ‘gay conversion practices’ illegal. He was against voluntary euthanasia. While often appearing moderate compared to some of his colleagues in the Liberal Party, this was by design. Getting others, such as Bill Heffernan or Kevin Andrews to do his dirty work, allowed him to appear conciliatory by comparison62. There is much that could be written about Howard here, but space and reader tolerance level would probably be passed.

Jonathan Pageau is an artist and is a pioneer in the revival of Liturgical Art for the 21st century1. He carves icons for churches63.

Jordan Peterson is a con-man as I explain in an earlier article on this blog64.

Katy Faust is founder and President of Them Before Us, a global non-profit defending children’s rights in matters of marriage and family; she is an evangelical christian. When a Christian refers to marriage and family, this is usually a cover for bigotry; she is vehemently opposed to same-sex marriage and was brought out to Australia to promote the no vote in the same-sex marriage plebiscite65,66.

Leslyn Lewis is a Canadian Parliamentarian who made history when she ran for leader of the Conservative party and placed third1. She tried to put it across that if Canada signed an international pandemic treaty, Canadians’ travel and medication choices could be restricted, the Constitution could be suspended and it could all pave the way for a world government. Needless to say, this was poo-pooed by legal experts, one of whom called it a “conspiracy theory”, while another said it as simple fearmongering67. Lewis is a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and is, of course, a social conservative68. She is against banning gay conversion ‘therapy’, and is against free access to abortion69.

Louis Gave is co-founder and CEO of Gavekal1, a financial services company based in Hong Kong, which does financial research for institutional investors, funds and private wealth management, and portfolio construction tools70.

Louise Perry is a journalist, who has railed against the sexual revolution in her book ‘The Case Against the Sexual Revolution’1. While she is supposedly not a christian, her views have been enthusiastically received by christians71.

Magatte Wade is an entrepreneur and advocate for African prosperity and is reputedly a sufi muslim72. She is also the Director for The Centre for African Prosperity in the Atlas Network1. The Atlas network is a non-governmental organisation based in the US that provides training, networking and grants for libertarian, free-market, and conservativegroups around the world73. It has been noted for ties to the tobacco74  and fossil fuel industries. Atlas-affiliated think tanks have mobilised against climate activists on several continents75.

Manuel Stotz is the Founder of Kingsway Capital, an investment firm focusing on Frontier Emerging Markets and viewing Bitcoin and other digital assets as a tool for financial freedom and global economic empowerment. He also serves on the board of the Sohn Conference Foundation London1.

Baron Maurice Glasman is jewish, a political theorist, academic, and Labour life peer in the House of Lords. He is founder of the Blue Labour political movement and a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University. He is also the director of the Common Good Foundation1. He campaigned for Brexit and has stated that the UK Labour Party should attempt to listen to and “win over” the far right English Defence League76.

Michael Shellenberger is a co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute which advocates for nuclear power and carbon capture and storage. He also founded Environmental Progress. He is a self-confessed energy expert, and a leading voice in climate change denialism, and has ties to the Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobby group of companies operating nuclear power plants, reactor designers, technology companies, engineering firms, fuel suppliers, and a variety of other companies involved in the nuclear energy industry77,78.

Mike Johnson is the new Speaker US House of Representatives1 and is a religious nutter and has been dealt with here recently79.

Mike Lee is a senator representing Utah1 and is a Mormon80. He voted against the ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ which would ensure federal recognition of same-sex marriages that take place in states where they are legal81. Believe it or not, Lee argued that, because climate change is an engineering challenge, it will be best solved through American families and increasing the US population. “Problems of human imagination are not solved by more laws, they’re solved by more humans,” he said. “More people mean bigger markets for more innovation”82.

Miriam Cates is the Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge in the UK parliament. Miriam campaigns on issues around children and families, with particular focus on safeguarding, issues of age-appropriate sex education and gender ideology in schools1. These topics are red lights indicating a religious nutter, and as you would expect, she is a deeply religious evangelical christian. Her main concern about the future seems to be the decline in the UK’s birth rate, putting it down to ‘cultural Marxism’. To this end she has called for a tax system that incentivises women to have children. She has opposed extending rights to transgender people and is anti-abortion in backing moves to end a Covid-19 law that allowed abortion pills to be sent to people’s homes. She is also against the government’s plan to ban gay conversion ‘therapy’, and has attacked LGBTQ+ charities83,84.

Niall Ferguson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a senior faculty fellow on International Affairs at Harvard. He states that he was brought up an atheist, but occasionally attends church. He was an advisor to Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign and was a supporter of Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign and was highly critical of Barack Obama. He is mostly a contrarian. Economist Paul Krugman has stated that Ferguson is a “poseur” who “hasn’t bothered to understand the basics, relying on snide comments and surface cleverness to convey the impression of wisdom. It’s all style, no comprehension of substance”85. In his younger days he adored Margaret Thatcher and wrote for the Daily Cut and Paste (under a pseudonym, of course). He told the world to wise up and start being grateful for everything that the British Empire had done for it. He also argued that the First World War had not been worth Britain fighting – Germany should have been allowed a mainland European empire. His views on the US and Iraq are different: the problem with American “empire”, he says, is that Washington doesn’t throw its weight about enough; it should occupy Iraq for 40 years86.

Nicholas Boys Smith is the founding Director of Create Streets and an influential writer on the design and history of our towns and cities. He was co-chair alongside the late Sir Roger Scruton of the influential Building Better Building Beautiful Commission and is chair of the Advisory Committee of the Government’s new Office for Place1. He is a Conservative and was an advisor to the Prime Minister last decade87.

Reverend Nims Obunge is King Charles Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London88. He is CEO of The Peace Alliance and Senior Pastor of Freedom’s Ark1, a church in London. This church says it believes in the infallible word of god and that the bible is the final authority (contradictions notwithstanding); that the whole universe was created by a ‘divine designer (science notwithstanding); and that the second coming will happen (when, they don’t say)89. 

Sir Paul Marshall is CIO and Chairman of Marshall Wace LLP, and he states that he was the founder and owner of UnHerd Media1, but numerous sites attribute its founding to conservative politician Tim Montgomerie. Marshall now owns it90. Marshall is also an investor in GB News Ltd, the right wing media organisation which is the home of odd Tory MPs and conspiracy theorists and seems regularly to be in breach of the Office of Communications (regulator for the communications services) impartiality rules91.

Baroness Philippa Stroud is co-founder and CEO of Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, and a Conservative member of the House of Lords. Prior to this, she was the CEO of the Legatum Institute (see Alan McCormack above) and Co-Founder and Chief Executive of the Centre for Social Justice. She served as an advisor to Conservative parliamentarian Iain Duncan Smith MP from 2010-15 and also to the Prime Minister from 20121. She is a religious nutter who founded a church that tried to ‘cure’ homosexuals by driving out the ‘demons’ through prayer. They also thought that drug addiction and alcoholism was due to possession by ‘demons’. Stroud actually wrote a book entitled God’s Heart for the Poor, in which she explains how to deal with people showing signs of demonic activity92.

Rebeccah L Heinrichs is a fellow at Hudson Institute. She specialises in US national defence policy with a focus on strategic deterrence. She is also a contributing editor to Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy. This provides an ‘evangelical view on international issues of the day and offers biblical principles on how to shape foreign policy’93. Heinrichs is also a Trump supporter94.

Rick Geddes is a Professor Economics at Cornell University. He is Founding Director of the Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy and a Non-Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC1. The American Enterprise Institute is a right-wing think tank based in Washington D.C. It has a long track record of distorting the science and solutions of climate change. Its arguments tend to de-emphasise the environmental and economic risks of climate change, exaggerate the costs of addressing the problem and question the value of putting a policy in place at all95. Geddes has signed up to Freedom Conservatism, a child of the group begun by William Buckley. Some of the ideals they expound are in code. One ‘the pursuit of happiness’ includes the phrase ‘to raise and educate their children according to their values’. This phrase means to ‘inculcate the parents’ religious beliefs (e.g. creationism) into the child. Also included is ‘reducing the cost of living through competitive markets, greater individual choice’. In addition to referring to market fundamentalism, choice refers to the wealthy having the ability to choose. The poor don’t get a choice. There is also a reference to people who believe the law does not apply to them. Most normal people know this should refer to the wealthy and their corporations. However, for Freedom Conservatism, this refers to ‘the explosion of unaccountable and unelected regulators who routinely exceed their statutory authority and abridge Americans’ constitutional rights’96. For conservatives this means less regulation for businesses so they can, for example, pollute the countryside with impunity.

Riva Melissa Tez has a background in technology and finance, including co-founding an AI-focused venture fund1.

Robin Batterham is Emeritus Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne and is a former Chief Scientist of Australia. He chairs the Net Zero Australia project1. In 1999, he was appointed Chief Scientist of Australia, a role which he undertook simultaneously to acting as chief technologist for the multinational mining company Rio Tinto. Supporters of renewable energy technologies claimed that Batterham’s employment by a mining company made his advice to Prime Minister Howard on climate change and carbon capture and storage questionable, and a Senate committee found that there was a conflict of interest between the two, recommending that the Chief Scientist position be made full-time. In May 2005, he stepped down as Chief Scientist and took on a full-time position at Rio Tinto97.

Stephen Blackwood is the founding President of the unaccredited Ralston College (Jordan Peterson is the chancellor; see above), a new university in Savannah, Georgia, dedicated to the revival of humanistic inquiry1. He has a PhD in religion from Emory University. In an article he wrote before setting up Ralston College, Blackwood started with “We hear a lot about problems in higher education. From unsustainable cost to the student loan crisis to activist ideology and cancel culture, the problems are serious, widespread, and widely acknowledged. We hear a lot about problems in higher education. From unsustainable cost to the student loan crisis to activist ideology and cancel culture, the problems are serious, widespread, and widely acknowledged … [and] that our institutions of higher education are failing their fundamental purpose—to enable young people to live meaningful and substantial lives. … The neo-Marxist worldview that has overtaken our institutions of higher education—according to which there is no truth but only power—leads inevitably to alienation and despair. Our colleges and universities are the disseminators of this cynical, horizon-darkening worldview, which through their unparalleled influence has spread through every institution and every aspect of our culture. The unsavory radicals who burn cities and storm the Capitol are reading from the same playbook as our ruling class: our tech oligarchs, media, academics, and political elites”98.

I cannot help myself: It is difficult to know where to begin with such drivel. To call universities, as a group, neo-Marxist is hilarious; in fact they tend to be quite conservative. What Blackwood hates about universities is that they teach children about the world as it is, not as he wants it to be. Cancel culture is usually only refererred to by those who want monologue, not dialogue. The Marxist reference is to what has been termed ‘cultural Marxism’ elsewhere and is simply another conspiracy theory. To top his drivel off, he conflates the gullible, Trumpian, right wing nut-jobs who stormed the Capitol Building with the tech oligarchs and academics. This really is funny stuff.

Tony Abbott is a (fortunately) former Prime Minister of Australia. He is on the board of Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, the council of the Australian War Memorial, and is an adviser to the UK Board of Trade1. Abbott was one of the worst liars to ever hold the office of Prime Minister99-105, and is a climate change denier106,107, was against same-sex marriage and is a religious nutter108.

Victor Davis Hanson is a Fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution. He is an American academic at California State University, Fresno, who studies ancient and modern warfare and has been a commentator on contemporary politics for various media outlets1. He used to be a member of the Democratic Party but became a supporter of George W. Bush and the Iraq war, despite it being based on a lie of weapons of mass destruction109. He is a climate change denier110, and thinks that agnostics and atheists are misguided and declared the wide spread of atheism and agnosticism in Europe a ‘sickness’111.

Vivek Ramaswamy is an American entrepreneur and founded Strive Asset Management, an Ohio-based firm, that has a mission to restore the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics1. He is a supporter of Trump, despite running against him for the Republican nomination. He opposes affirmative action, opposes abortion and has called it ‘murder, but opposes a federal ban. He has called the LGBTQ movement a ‘cult’ and supports restrictions on transgender people and wants to abolish numerous federal agencies including the FBI, the ATF and the Internal Revenue Service. He wants to raise the voting age to 25 in an effort to stop the decline in the conservative vote112.

Warren Farrell was chosen by The Financial Times as one of the world’s top 100 Thought Leaders. He is author of The New York Times bestseller, ‘Why Men are the Way they Are’, as well as ‘The Myth of Male Power’ and ‘The Boy Crisis’. His forthcoming ‘Role Mate to Soul Mate’ book emanates from 30 years of teaching courses on couples’ communication1. Farrell is widely considered to be the father of the men’s rights movement. In his books, he has made the case that the primary victims of gender-based discrimination are men—casualties of a society that relies on their sacrifices while ignoring their suffering.

The men’s rights movement offers a place to air real grievances about issues such as bias in family courts or sexual abuse. But it also has spawned a network of activists and sites that take Farrell’s ideology in a disturbing direction. Men’s rights forums on sites like 4chan and Reddit are awash in misogyny and anti-feminist vitriol. Participants argue that false allegations of rape and domestic abuse are rampant, or that shelters for battered women are a financial scam. Others rail against women for being independent or sexually promiscuous113.

Winston Marshall is a Grammy award-winning musician, writer and host of a podcast series1. He is the son of Sir Paul Marshall (see above). He got into a bit of hot water when he endorsed the book Unmasked (by Andy Ngo) which asserted that Antifa, the antifascist activist group, is out to destroy democracy114, where it is conservatives who are out to destroy democracy. It is a classic example of conservatives, as they usually do, accusing others of the crimes they commit themselves.

*Religious nutter: someone who wants to impose their beliefs and their bigotries on everyone else.

Sources

  1. https://www.arcforum.com/advisory-board
  2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-thinks-his-supporters-are-the-most-gullible-people-on-earth-are-they-really/2019/03/07/1e79a4c4-4119-11e9-9361-301ffb5bd5e6_story.html
  3. https://www.salon.com/2022/07/12/january-6-hearing-makes-it-clear-maga-is-a/
  4. https://medium.com/shit-britain/the-bumper-uk-conservative-government-corruption-thread-26d6e0fcd673
  5. https://blotreport.com/2022/03/21/why-i-cannot-vote-for-the-morrison-government-lies-and-misogyny/
  6. https://blotreport.com/2022/03/22/why-i-cannot-vote-for-the-morrison-government-racism-and-idiocy/
  7. https://blotreport.com/2022/03/24/why-i-cannot-vote-for-the-morrison-government-petulance-and-corruption/
  8. https://blotreport.com/2022/04/02/why-i-cannot-vote-for-the-morrison-government-pork-barrelling/
  9. https://blotreport.com/2022/04/09/why-i-cannot-vote-for-the-morrison-government-religious-nutjobbery/
  10. https://blotreport.com/2022/04/16/why-i-cannot-vote-for-the-morrison-government-hatred-of-expertise/
  11. https://blotreport.com/2022/04/18/why-i-cannot-vote-for-a-morrison-government-shirking-responsibility-and-shifting-blame/
  12. https://blotreport.com/2022/04/21/why-i-cannot-vote-for-the-morrison-government-stealing-credit/
  13. https://blotreport.com/2023/09/24/pointing-at-a-mirror/
  14. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2021/nov/12/gerrymander-redistricting-map-republicans-democrats-visual
  15. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/25/voting-rights-act-2013-timeline-state-voter-restriction-map-registration-id-absentee-mail
  16. https://blotreport.com/2017/01/28/joke-economics/
  17. https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/economics/tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy-only-benefit-the-rich-debunking-trickle-down-economics
  18. https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/fighting-climate-chaos/exxon-and-the-oil-industry-knew-about-climate-crisis/exxons-climate-denial-history-a-timeline/
  19. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/18/the-forgotten-oil-ads-that-told-us-climate-change-was-nothing
  20. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/09/electric-utilities-downplayed-climate-change/671361/
  21. https://earthjustice.org/article/for-big-oil-and-gas-greenwashing-is-the-new-climate-denial
  22. https://blotreport.com/2019/07/29/decline-of-religion-in-the-anglophone-world/
  23. https://blotreport.com/2022/06/28/and-so-it-continues/
  24. https://blotreport.com/2021/12/15/a-less-christian-nation/
  25. https://blotreport.com/2022/11/14/christofascist-slippery-dip/
  26. https://blotreport.com/2021/05/01/paedophiles-coal-and-jesus-4/
  27. https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/liberal-scare-campaigns-super-lies-promoted-by-media,17276
  28. https://www.crikey.com.au/dossier-of-lies-and-falsehoods/
  29. https://chaser.com.au/national/an-exhaustive-list-of-the-liberal-partys-corruption-over-the-last-7-years/
  30. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/may/12/gb-news-chairman-alan-mccormick-has-history-of-dismissing-threat-of-climate-crisis
  31. https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/federal-election-2022/2022/06/17/amanda-stoker-pauline-hanson
  32. https://blotreport.com/2018/12/06/the-mind-of-amanda-stoker/
  33. https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2021/05/15/who-amanda-stoker/162100080011668
  34. https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/the-high-cost-of-climate-alarmists-20231031-p5egcv
  35. https://blotreport.com/2020/06/27/amanda-stoker-dominionist-bigot/
  36. https://creation.com/whats-happened-to-the-horse
  37. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/10/canning-byelection-andrew-hastie-refuses-to-give-his-views-on-creationism
  38. https://blotreport.com/2017/11/22/geology-biology-next/
  39. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/15/arthur-brooks-journey-happiness-guru-00115752
  40. https://www.desmog.com/arthur-c-brooks/
  41. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Institution
  42. https://www.desmog.com/hoover-institution/
  43. https://www.desmog.com/bjorn-lomborg/
  44. http://www.lomborg-errors.dk
  45. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/15/billionaire-christopher-chandler-denies-spy-claims
  46. https://www.sarawakreport.org/2023/03/who-influences-the-real-influencers-lobbying-and-media-transparency-are-urgently-required/
  47. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Brazier
  48. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dan-crenshaw-election-deniers_n_6364cc13e4b06f38ded30136
  49. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/look-rhetorical-evolutions-congress-former-climate-deniers/
  50. https://www.newstatesman.com/encounter/2023/08/danny-kruger-interview-tories-disunited-britain
  51. https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/11/new-moms-have-plenty-to-deal-with-at-work-dont-add-more-guilt.html
  52. https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2019/12/08/therapist-advises-atheists-to-lie-to-their-kids-pretending-theres-a-god-and-a-heaven/
  53. https://www.politico.eu/article/the-austrian-peoples-partys-existential-crisis/
  54. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudrun_Kugler
  55. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Morrissey,_Baroness_Morrissey
  56. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/25-february/news/uk/students-at-cambridge-say-divinity-faculty-needs-to-combat-its-racist-views
  57. https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/faith_duty_the_john_anderson_story
  58. https://hope1032.com.au/stories/life/inspirational-stories/2013/john-anderson-life-of-a-former-deputy-prime-minister/
  59. https://johnanderson.net.au/howard-is-right-on-same-sex-marriage-say-no-to-bullies/
  60. https://johnanderson.net.au/unsettled-what-climate-science-tells-us-what-it-doesnt-and-why-it-matters/
  61. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/24/john-howard-calls-for-religious-schools-to-have-anti-discrimination-exemption
  62. https://www.monash.edu/arts/philosophical-historical-international-studies/eras/past-editions/edition-seven-2005-november/god-under-howard-the-rise-of-the-religious-right-in-australian-politics-by-marion-maddox
  63. https://www.catholicartinstitute.org/pageau
  64. https://blotreport.com/2023/11/12/another-bullshit-artist-and-bullshit-name/
  65. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-13/katy-faust-ask-bigot-daughter-of-lesbians-gay-marriage-lateline/6694258
  66. https://www.mamamia.com.au/who-is-katy-faust/
  67. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/leslyn-lewis-who-world-health-organization-pandemic-1.6460159
  68. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/august/lewis-canada-conservative-party-leadership-evangelical.html
  69. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/leslyn-lewis-pride-parade-1.5492123
  70. https://web.gavekal.com/about/
  71. https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2021/12/15/louise-perry-on-motherhood-consent-and-the-sexual-revolution
  72. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/pickledpencil/2016/06/acton-part-2-a-sufi-entrepreneur-on-how-to-end-poverty-in-africa/
  73. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Network
  74. https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2019/jan/23/free-market-thinktanks-tobacco-industry
  75. https://newrepublic.com/article/175488/meet-shadowy-global-network-vilifying-climate-protesters
  76. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/25/maurice-glasman-blue-labour-book-interview
  77. https://www.desmog.com/michael-shellenberger/
  78. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Institute
  79. https://blotreport.com/2023/11/01/speaking-of-religious-fruitcakes/
  80. https://www.mormonwiki.com/Mike_Lee:Mormon_Politician
  81. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/11/29/23484230/respect-for-marriage-act-mike-lee-amendment-mitt-romney-vote
  82. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/26/politics/mike-lee-green-new-deal/index.html
  83. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/18/miriam-cates-the-new-tory-darling-and-rising-star-of-the-right
  84. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254148/5-things-to-know-about-british-mp-miriam-cates-whos-challenging-the-status-quo
  85. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_Ferguson
  86. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/niall-ferguson-big-brain-big-mouth-480966.html
  87. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/davehillblog/2015/feb/18/should-london-embrace-the-vision-of-create-streets
  88. https://www.heartpublications.co.uk/ready-for-the-fight/
  89. https://www.freedomsark.org/our-belief/
  90. https://brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-weird-history-of-the-cow-site
  91. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/24/ofcom-gb-news-tory-mp-impartial-angelo-frangopoulos
  92. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure
  93. https://www2.cbn.com/news/world/christian-journal-takes-higher-view-foreign-policy
  94. https://www.vox.com/2020/10/14/21515946/rebeccah-heinrichs-the-ezra-klein-show-donald-trump-china
  95. https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/fighting-climate-chaos/climate-deniers/front-groups/american-enterprise-institute-aei/
  96. https://www.freedomconservatism.org/p/freedom-conservatism-a-statement
  97. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Batterham
  98. https://fee.org/articles/colleges-are-failing-in-their-fundamental-mission-but-there-s-still-hope/
  99. https://blotreport.com/2017/01/15/abbott-the-liar/
  100. https://blotreport.com/2017/02/05/abbott-lies-again/
  101. https://blotreport.com/2017/08/16/abbott-at-it-again/
  102. https://blotreport.com/2017/09/06/abbott-continues-lying/
  103. https://blotreport.com/2017/09/13/abbott-know-lying/
  104. https://blotreport.com/2019/02/13/another-lie-from-tony-abbott/
  105. https://blotreport.com/2019/03/30/more-lies-from-tony-abbott/
  106. https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/11/02/tony-abbott-climate-change-beliefs/
  107. https://www.desmog.com/tony-abbott/
  108. https://blotreport.com/2017/08/09/abbotts-true-bigotry/
  109. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Davis_Hanson
  110. https://www.oklahoman.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2011/10/29/victor-davis-hanson-global-warming-rip/61123204007/
  111. https://helian.net/blog/2012/02/14/religion/on-the-bigotry-of-victor-davis-hanson/
  112. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivek_Ramaswamy
  113. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/01/warren-farrell-mens-rights-movement-feminism-misogyny-trolls/
  114. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jun/24/winston-marshall-quits-mumford-sons-citing-free-speech-concerns

2 Comments

  • Mark Dougall says:
    December 1, 2023 at 11:12 pm

    Superb admin, and thorough. What a collection of grotesques. A thing that kept going through my mind as I was reading this was that these are the very people who rail against so called elites. Fuck they are disgusting.

    Reply
    • admin says:
      December 2, 2023 at 6:44 am

      Mark,
      Grotesques indeed! These people also accuse others of the crime of which they are guilty. That is a common conservative theme.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Bitnami